The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1887-02-19

/ Most people have probably heard
the story ofthe house in Ohio which
is said to be 50 exactly balanced
upon the boundary line between
the basins of the great lakes and
the Ohio river that the rain falling
on one side of the gable roof goes
to join the st. Lawrence and the
ocean, while on the other side it
helps to swell a little brook that
finally mingles with the Ohio and
the Gulf. There is more wonder
full place than this in India. Al
most 500 miles due west from Cal
cutta is the Ammerkantack noun
tain, which is a place of great sane
tity in the eyes of the HindoOs, ow-
ing to the remarkable fact that it is
the source of one of the large rivers
of India, and of feeders of three
other rivers that are among the
greatest in the peninsula. The tor
rents that flow down its sides travel
to all the cardinal points of the
compass. The Nerbudda, which
takes its rise here, winds its way
over 500 miles of plain before it
empties into the Indian ocean. The
three other great rivers that are fed
from Mount Ammerkantack are the
Godavery, the Mahanuddy and the
Some.
The natives of India have a great
reverence for the sources of a num-
Der of their largest rivers, whose wa
ters, by means of irrigating works,
are often used in times of drought
to nourish the soil and prevent or
mitigate famines. The Godavery,
the most important river in South
India, takes its rise from brook
that issues near the hillside near
the village of Nassik. The spot
where this brook gushes from the
rock is approached by a flight of
600 stone steps, at the top of which
is a great stone platform built at
the foot of the rock from which the
stream issues. An image under a
large canopy has been SO placed
that the water pours out of its
mouth and then goes sparkling
down the hill. From this spot the
stream flows 800 miles right across
the peninsula, growing on the way
into a mighty river and draining
100000 square miles. The source
of the Godavery is one of the sights
of the Bombay Presidency.
Mr.. W. ID. Cooley, the geogra-
pher. made curious blunder about
the head stream of the Luapula
river, which unites with the Lualaba
to form the Upper Congo. This
stream is the Chambesi, which
empties into Lake Bangweolo. Coo
ley, misled by the similarity in the
names, thought the Chambesi was
the upper waters of the Zambesi,
and it appears on his map as a part
of the Zambesi system. 1t is an
interesting fact, shown by the latest
discoveries, that the Chambesi,
which for some time has been re-
garded as the ultimate source of
the Congo, must now yield to the
Lualaba, which is the real head
waters of the mighty river.
One little stream, whose waters flow
from river to river until they finally
join the Amazons, runs for ten or
fifteen miles by the side of one of
the sources of the great Paraguay.
Though they flow parallel to each
other, and only two or three miles
apart, they run in opposite direc-
tions. Canoes are often hauled
across the intervening portage, and
in this way it is possible for small
boat to travel from the mouth of
the AmazOns to BucnOs Ayres along
the inland waters of South Ameri-
ca, and with a portage Of nearly
two or three miles.